2010 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2010 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the NHL's 2009–10 NHL season and the culmination of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs that was contested between the Chicago Blackhawks & the Philadelphia Flyers. Chicago defeated Philadelphia four games to two to win their fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history. It was Chicago's eleventh appearance in the Final and their first since 1992, a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was Philadelphia's eighth appearance in the Final and their first since 1997, a loss to the Detroit Red Wings. This was the first Cup championship for Chicago since 1961 (which had been the longest active Stanley Cup drought). The Toronto Maple Leafs (who last won the Cup in 1967 and who have not appeared in the Final since) now currently have the longest active Cup drought streak in the NHL. The Blackhawks became the fourth major Chicago sports team to win a championship since 1986, joining the 1985 Chicago Bears, the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s, and the 2005 Chicago White Sox. The 2016 Chicago Cubs would complete the cycle of all Chicago sports teams winning at least one championship in 30 years. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the 2010 playoffs, and was the first Blackhawks player to receive this honor. He and teammates Duncan Keith & Brent Seabrook won the Olympic Gold medal with Team Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics, adding the three players to the list of Ken Morrow (in 1980) and Steve Yzerman & Brendan Shanahan (both in 2002), as well as Drew Doughty & Jeff Carter (both in 2014), as the only players to accomplish this double in the same year. Having played for Team USA at the Olympics, Patrick Kane joined Chris Chelios & Brett Hull (both in 2002) as having won both the Olympic Silver medal and Stanley Cup in the same year. Jonathan Toews also became the 24th player and the seventh Canadian to become a member of the Triple Gold Club having won an Olympic Gold Medal, an IIHF World Championship Gold Medal, and the Stanley Cup. Road to the Finals This was the third straight Final in which the Western Conference team was an Original Six team that won the Central Division and the Eastern Conference team was an Atlantic Division team from the state of Pennsylvania. Ironically, the Blackhawks have a storied rivalry with the Detroit Red Wings, as do the Flyers with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Red Wings and Penguins played each other in the Stanley Cup Final in 2008 and 2009. The Blackhawks and Flyers had previously met in the 1971 playoffs; the Blackhawks beat the Flyers in four games. Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks finished the regular season as the Central Division champions with 112 points; this is the 14th division title in franchise history for Chicago but the first since 1992–93 when it was called the Norris Division. As the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs, the Blackhawks defeated the seventh seed Nashville Predators and the third seed Vancouver Canucks in six games each, and then swept the first seed San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Final to advance to the Final for the first time since 1992. Chicago's Marian Hossa is the first player in NHL history to appear in three straight Stanley Cup Finals with three different teams, having previously made the Final with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008 and with the Detroit Red Wings in 2009. Along with Hossa, the other half of Chicago's preseason acquisition from Detroit, Tomas Kopecky was also playing in his third straight Stanley Cup Final. Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers earned the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs after finishing the regular season with 88 points, and winning the tiebreaker over the Montreal Canadiens, having more wins (41 to 39). The Flyers were the last team to qualify for the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Their Cinderella march to the Final began on the final day of the regular season when they met the New York Rangers in a winner-take-all match-up for the final playoff spot. Philadelphia defeated their Atlantic Division rivals 2–1 in a historic shootout, the first do or die shootout for a playoff spot in NHL history. In the first round of the playoffs, the Flyers upset the second seed New Jersey Devils (another of their division rivals) in five games. In the second round, against the sixth-seeded Boston Bruins, Philadelphia became the third NHL team to win a seven-game series after being down three games to none (the others being the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders). In addition, in game seven of that series, the Flyers overcame a three goals to none deficit to win the game and series, 4-3. In the Eastern Conference Final, the Flyers eliminated the Canadiens in five games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1997. They were also the first team to reach the Final with less than 90 points in the regular season since the Vancouver Canucks in 1994, when they had 85. It also gave the city of Philadelphia the distinction of being the first city to have had all its teams play in each of the four professional sports leagues title rounds since 2000, following the 76ers in the 2001 NBA Finals, the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX after the 2004 season, and the Phillies in back-to-back World Series in 2008 and 2009, winning in 2008 to bring the city of Philadelphia a championship after 28 years. The Flyers attempted to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. Game Summaries Game one The Chicago Blackhawks won the first game by a score of 6–5 on the strength of two goals by Troy Brouwer. Throughout the game, the two teams traded goals with neither team having a lead greater than one. The Flyers opened the scoring at 6:38 of the first period on a goal by Ville Leino that deflected off the face of Niklas Hjalmarsson. The Blackhawks responded with two quick goals, one of which was shorthanded, to take the lead. However, the lead would not last long as the Flyers would counter with two goals of their own to re-take the lead 3–2 after the first period. Patrick Sharp scored 1:11 into the second period to tie the game once again. Both teams would trade goals once again and tie the game at five after the second period. Michael Leighton was replaced by Brian Boucher after allowing the fifth Chicago goal. In the third period, Tomas Kopecky scored what would eventually prove to be the game winner at 8:25. Antti Niemi finished the game with 27 saves on 32 shots while Leighton saved 15 out of 20 shots. Boucher stopped 11 of 12 shots faced in relief of Leighton. Game two The Blackhawks took game two of the best-of-seven series by a score of 2–1, thus giving them a 2–0 series lead heading into games three and four in Philadelphia. In contrast to game one, game two was a low-scoring affair with much tighter defense displayed by both teams. Neither team would score in the opening frame as the game entered the first intermission tied 0–0. It wasn't until late in the second period that Chicago managed to get the ice breaker with a goal from Marian Hossa. The Blackhawks quickly added another goal just 28 seconds later on a wrist shot by Ben Eager. The Flyers would eventually reply in the third period on a power play goal by Simon Gagne, but it wouldn't be enough. Both goaltenders were much stronger as Antti Niemi stopped 32 of 33 shots for the Blackhawks while Michael Leighton rebounded with 24 stops on 26 shots. Game three The Flyers won game three in overtime, 4–3, to pull within two games to one in the series. Daniel Briere opened the scoring for Philadelphia with a power play goal at 14:58 of the first period. Duncan Keith tied the game at 1–1 early in the second period, and both teams added another goal to leave the score at 2–2 entering the third period. Patrick Kane scored with 17:10 remaining in the game to give the Blackhawks their first lead, but Ville Leino responded with the tying goal 20 seconds later. In overtime, shortly after a review determined that a shot by Gagne was not a goal, Claude Giroux scored the game-winner at 5:59 of the extra period. This was the first time since 1987 that the Flyers had won a game in the Stanley Cup Final. Game four The Flyers evened the series at two games apiece by winning game four, 5–3. The Flyers took the lead 4:35 into the game on a Mike Richards power play goal. Matt Carle extended their lead to 2–0 at 14:48 of the first period. Sharp cut Philadelphia's lead in half with 1:28 left in the period, but Giroux restored the Flyers' two-goal advantage 51 seconds later. Following a scoreless second period, Leino gave Philadelphia a three-goal lead 6:43 into the third period. Dave Bolland (on a power play) and Brian Campbell scored later in the third to leave Chicago trailing 4–3 with 4:10 remaining. However, Jeff Carter scored an empty-net goal with 25 seconds left to clinch the Flyers' victory. Game five The Blackhawks took a 3–2 lead in the series with a 7–4 victory in game five. At 12:17 of the first period, Brent Seabrook scored on a power play to give Chicago the lead. Within the next six minutes, the Blackhawks tripled their advantage, adding goals by Bolland and Kris Versteeg to make the score 3–0. At the start of the second period, the Flyers again took Leighton out of the game, replacing him with Boucher. Four goals were scored in the second period (two by each team) and the Blackhawks entered the third period with a 5–2 lead. James van Riemsdyk pulled Philadelphia within two goals at 6:36 of the third. Sharp made the score 6–3 with 3:52 remaining, but Gagne answered for the Flyers 1:16 later. Thirty-one seconds after Gagne's goal, Dustin Byfuglien tallied an empty-net goal (his second goal of the game) which concluded the scoring. Flyers' alternate captain Chris Pronger was on the ice for six of Chicago's goals and was in the penalty box on the seventh. Discounting the power play goal, Pronger finished -5 on the game. Game six The sixth game required overtime, as the score was tied 3–3 at the end of the third period. Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks scored the Cup-winning goal at 4:06 into the overtime period, a shot in which the puck crossed the goal line and then got stuck underneath the padding in the back of the net. Several observers (including most of the players and all the officials initially lost sight of the puck). Only Kane and Patrick Sharp started to celebrate immediately, soon followed by the rest of the Blackhawks. It was only after a video review that the goal was officially awarded. Jonathan Toews won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. It was the first Cup to be won in overtime since 2000. Television In Canada, the series was televised in English on CBC and in French on the cable network RDS. In the United States, NBC broadcast games one, two, five, and six (which were all won by the Blackhawks); while Versus televised games three and four (which were both won by the Flyers). In Europe, Viasat Sport broadcast the televised finals in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia), through five regional divisions of Viasat Sport. Its sister channel Viasat Sport East broadcast in the Russian language to the European and Eurasian countries of Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Broadcast calls of the Cup-winning goal All the broadcasters lost sight of the puck when it got underneath the padding in the back of the net after Patrick Kane's Cup-winning goal in game six, leading to hesitant calls. "Here's Campbell, handing on to Kane again. Lots of head fakes there, trying to shake Timonen. Threw one in front, they ... Oh my! It rattled around, and it kicked on back and then ... Score! We saw no light the goal judge, we saw no signal the officials, and we're not sure if they said a signal to the goal yet, but they Blackhawks are celebrating at the other end of the ice! What chaos! (after video review) It's one of the more unusual finishes, but it's a goal. The Stanley Cup to the Chicago Blackhawks!" — Mike Emrick's call of Patrick Kane's winning overtime goal in Game 6 on NBC. "Campbell holds the puck into the line, turns, won't shoot. Kane, watched by Kimmo Timonen. To the net—Leighton stopped it. Where's the puck? It came loose on the other side. (Glenn Healy interrupting: It's in.) It's over! Patrick Kane has scored the goal! The Chicago Blackhawks' long drought is over! For the first time since 1961, the Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup." — Jim Hughson's call of the same moment on CBC. "The puck taken back by Campbell, left point, drops it to Kane on the left half boards. Here's Kane now, juking his way to the right from the left corner, he shoots, he sco— oh no that's turned wide by Leighton. Loose puck in the crease; and, no, it's in the net! They score! They score! The 'Hawks win the Stanley Cup! The 'Hawks win the Stanley Cup! Leighton is down on his knees in the goal crease and that one looked like it slipped past him in the net. They're going to go up and take a look. They're going to take a look upstairs. (after video review) It's in the back of the net! The Hawks have won the Stanley Cup! Blackhawk fans around the world, you've endured 49 years of frustration, but your patience has finally paid off! Lord Stanley's new address is Sweet Home Chicago! The Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup! They've won the Stanley Cup!"— John Wiedeman's call of the same moment on WGN Radio. "Patrick Kane. He dances wide of Kimmo Timonen, took the shot, he scores... and it's in behi— no! It's still alive. Everybody with the Flyers thought that was in, yes it is in! Chicago has won the series. The Flyers only now realizing it's in. And Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks celebrate. They certainly are gonna look at this, but I think it's a good goal. And this amazing playoff run for the Flyers ends in heartbreak."— Tim Saunders's call of the same moment on WIP. Ratings Game one produced the best overnight rating in the United States for a game one since the 1999 Final. The 2.8 overnight rating and six share was a 12-percent increase from the first game of the 2009 Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings. Meanwhile, in Canada, game one was viewed by 3.164 million people on CBC. Game two of the series (which aired on Memorial Day) earned a 4.1 rating. The number of viewers increased as the game averaged approximately six million viewers with a peak of 6.940 million at 10:30 pm ET. According to NBC, this is the highest game two since at least the 1975 Final because data prior to then is unavailable. Game two also saw a 21-percent increase over 2009's second game. In local markets, game two drew a 25.1 rating and 39 share in Chicago along with an 18.5 rating and 28 share in Philadelphia. Game three returned to cable on Versus where it received a 2.0 rating and 3.6 million viewers. The broadcast peaked at 5.1 million viewers at 10:30 pm ET. It ranked as the highest rated and most viewed program in the history of Versus. It also ranked as the highest-rated and most-viewed Stanley Cup Final game on cable television since 2002. Game four saw a decline of 9% from the 2009 Final between the Penguins and the Red Wings as just 3.1 million viewers tuned into the game. With the series returning to broadcast television on NBC, the ratings trend rebounded and improved over the 2009 Final ratings trend. Game five's prime time portion of the broadcast received a 3.3 final rating and averaged 5.8 million viewers, an increase of 38% in the ratings and 32% in viewers over the 2009 Final. Locally, the Chicago market received a 26.0 rating while Philadelphia had a 19.7 rating. The average for the three NBC broadcasts rose to 5.4 million viewers, an increase of 800,000 compared to 2009; this increase came despite going head to head with the 2010 NBA Finals. Game six was the most-watched NHL game since game six in 1974, drawing a 4.7 rating and 8 share, up 38 percent vs. 3.4/6 for game six in 2009. The top two markets were Chicago, with a 32.8/50 and Philadelphia, 26.8/38. In Canada, game six was the most-watched all-American Stanley Cup Final game on the CBC, with 4.077 million viewers. The Final averaged 3.107 million viewers, up 44 percent from 2009. Impact & aftermath Blackhawks The win was the Chicago Blackhawks first championship since 1961. It gave the city of Chicago the distinction of being the first city to have at least a championship in each of the four major professional sports since 1985. It also vaulted Toews into the Triple Gold Club, having won the Olympic Gold medal in Vancouver earlier in 2010 and an IIHF World Championship Gold medal in 2007. Toews and defencemen Duncan Keith & Brent Seabrook also became the fourth, fifth, and sixth players to win Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup in the same year. With Chicago's win, the Toronto Maple Leafs are now the only Original Six team to not win the Stanley Cup or play in the Finals since the 1967 expansion; their most recent Finals appearance is 1967. The day after the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley issued a proclamation declaring June 11, 2010 Chicago Blackhawks Day in the city of Chicago. During that same day, an estimated two million Chicagoans attended the Blackhawks Stanley Cup parade, more than the estimated 1.75 million who attended the parade for the Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series championship and more than the rallies at Grant Park for any of the Chicago Bulls. The Blackhawks' celebration also overshadowed the series between the White Sox and Chicago Cubs taking place around the same time; however, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén said that the parade the White Sox had was far bigger than the Blackhawks. Daley presented the proclamation to the team at the celebratory parade and rally. Then-US President Barack Obama (a former US Senator from Illinois and Chicago resident) phoned Joel Quenneville to congratulate his team and to invite them to the White House. Obama joked that he now had "bragging rights" over Vice President Joe Biden, a Flyers fan. The following year, the Blackhawks lost in the first round to the Vancouver Canucks in seven games. Flyers The loss by the Flyers was the sixth straight Final series they have lost, tying them with the 1933-40 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1956-95 Detroit Red Wings for most consecutive finals lost. The following season, the Flyers got swept by the Boston Bruins in the second round 4-0. The missing Stanley Cup-winning puck Since the Cup-winning puck got stuck underneath the padding in the back of the net to end game six, there has been controversy and speculation as to its current whereabouts. Amid the confusion involving the video review and the subsequent celebrations, the Cup-winning puck got lost. Because it ended the Blackhawks' then-record for the longest active Cup drought, it is considered a valuable piece of sport memorabilia; so much so, a Chicago-based restaurant has offered a $50,000 reward for it, and the FBI has been called in to investigate the case. Video and pictures taken from the game indicate that linesman Steve Miller was the first person who took the puck after the game-winning goal was scored, but he denies knowing where it eventually went. As a result of an ESPN story about the controversy on April 21, 2011, the league relieved Miller of his 2011 postseason duties for more than a week, citing that the controversy was a potential distraction during the playoffs. In reinstating Miller, the league said it is standing by him and his story. As Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports wrote, "it's also completely believable that this guy accidentally handed off hockey history to someone else in the postgame euphoria, and is unable to piece together what happened. So he's just going with the straight denial." Controversy Much controversy came throughout the first four games between the Blackhawks and Flyer defenceman Chris Pronger. Chicago complained that Pronger had gotten away with rough play that they felt was beyond the rules. The Blackhawks argued that even when they responded with the same actions that Pronger was being allowed to get away with, that they would instead be given a penalty. The Blackhawks set up a meeting with the NHL to make a complaint about his play. The team felt that Chris Pronger had been allowed to get away with what they perceive to be "obstruction or interference" with Chicago coach Joel Quenneville saying "Whether it's stick use or obstruction, I think we'll keep an eye on it." Pronger was also the target of a Chicago Tribune poster displaying him in a figure skating outfit after he had a +/- rating of -5 in game five and a -4 in the three games combined that the Blackhawks won against the Flyers. Pronger had been noticed by the media and the NHL at the end of games one and two of the series as he picked up and left with the game puck at the conclusion of the games. When asked, Pronger replied that he had thrown the pucks in the garbage. Chicago Blackhawks: 2010 Stanley Cup champions Players Centres *10 Patrick Sharp (A) *11 John Madden *19 Jonathan Toews (Captain) *36 Dave Bolland *46 Colin Fraser Wingers *16 Andrew Ladd *22 Troy Brouwer *32 Kris Versteeg *33 Dustin Byfuglien *37 Adam Burish *55 Ben Eager *81 Marian Hossa *82 Tomas Kopecky *88 Patrick Kane Defencemen *2 Duncan Keith (A) *4 Niklas Hjalmarsson *5 Brent Sopel *6 Jordan Hendry *7 Brent Seabrook *24 Nick Boynton *51 Brian Campbell Goaltenders *31 Antti Niemi *38 Cristobal Huet Coaching and administrative staff *W. Rockwell Rocky Wirtz (Chairman/Owner/Governor) *John McDonough (President) *Jay Blunk (Sr. Vice President-Business Operations) *Stan Bowman (General Manager) *Al MacIsaac (Sr. Director-Hockey Administration-Assistant to the President) *Kevin Cheveldayoff (Assistant General Manager) *William Scotty Bowman (Sr. Advisor, Hockey Operations) *Dale Tallon (Assistant General Manager) *Joel Quenneville (Head Coach) *Mike Haviland (Assistant Coach) *John Torchetti (Assistant Coach) *Stephane Waite (Goaltending Coach) *Mike Gapski (Athletic Trainer) *Troy Parchman (Equipment Manager) *Jeff Thomas (Assistant Athletic Trainer) *Clint Reif (Assistant Equipment Manager) *Pawel Prylinski (Massage Therapist) *Jim Heintzelman (Equipment Assistant) *Paul Goodman (Strength & Conditioning Coach) *Paul Vincent (Skating Coach) *Brad Aldrich (Video Coach) *Marc Bergevin (Director-Player Personnel) *Mark Kelley (Director-Amateur Scouting) *Norm Maciver (Director-Player Development) *Michael Dumas (Chief Amateur Scout) *Ron Anderson (Director-Player Recruitment) *Tony Ommen (Director-Team Service) *Mark Bernard (General Manager-Minor League Affiliations) *Dr. Michael Terry (Head Team Physician) Scotty Bowman won the Stanley Cup with his fourth different team; Montreal, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago. The only other people with wins with four different teams are Jack Marshall, Harry Hap Holmes, Tommy Gorman and Al Arbour. This was also his 12th Stanley Cup win, tying him with Sam Pollock for second most times; only Jean Beliveau with his name on the Stanley Cup 17 times has more. Stanley Cup engraving Kris Versteeg's name was misspelled KRIS VERTSEEG with the "S" and "T" transposed. The engraver was able to correct the mistake. Left off the Stanley Cup *Bryan Bickell (#29\LW): only played 16 regular season games, and 4 playoff games with the Blackhawks. NHL refused Chicago's request to include Bickell's name on the Stanley Cup since he did not play in final 2 rounds of the playoffs, and spending most of the season in the minors. Bickell played 65 games in the minors playing for the Rockford IceHogs AHL. He was, however, included in the team picture. *Kim Johnsson (#8\D): played 60 games, 52 for Minnesota and 8 for Chicago, missing the last 14 games and all the playoffs due a concussion. Chicago chose not to submit his name for engraving because he spent most of season with Minnesota. Johnsson was left out of the team picture. Due his concussion, Johnsson never played in the NHL again. Six ambassadors were also included on the Official Stanley Cup Picture: Ab MacDonald, Denis Savard, Glenn Hall, Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito. All 8 members along with 13 more scouts, and other players, and non-players were awarded Stanley Cup Rings. Category:Stanley Cup finals Category:Chicago Blackhawks Category:Philadelphia Flyers